1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packaging for a product of pasty liquid consistency contained in a compressible receptacle allowing the emptying of almost all of the product which it contains.
2. Discussion of the Background
Thus, frequently, the user wishing to employ a product of more or less viscous consistency contained in a compressible receptacle of the bottle, bottle-tube or tube type, notes that at the end of use there is still some product in the receptacle. Such a residual product is impossible to get out simply by compressing the receptacle. Generally, the degree of retrieval of product packaged in such a receptacle depends on the rheology of the product, and is from around 85% to 90% of all of the product.
It has been noted that certain consumers seek to open the receptacle with the aid of a cutting tool, so as to access the product remaining inside, especially when dealing with a cosmetic product whose price is often high.
Various solutions have already been proposed for minimizing the degree of product remaining in the receptacle at the end of use.
Thus, WO-A-96/26120 discloses a flexible tube finished with a dispensing head consisting of a concave shoulder. A dispensing neck emerging from the centre of the concavity can be blocked off by a closure cap. This packaging has the drawback however that, in particular in the case of tubes, bottles or bottle-tubes made from a plastic and comprising an orifice of undeformable nature, a relatively considerable quantity of product remains inaccessible in the head of the reservoir. Furthermore, the configuration of the tube head proposed requires an excessively long neck, trapping further product and having a rather unaesthetic appearance. Such a configuration may hardly be suitable for a tube for packaging product, especially cosmetic product, and is totally inappropriate for the production of bottles or bottle-tubes.
Furthermore, EP-A-0 845 421 discloses a dispensing head mounted on a compressible receptacle, this head comprising a plurality of zones of reduced thickness allowing diametral squeezing of the dispensing head. Although this dispensing head makes it possible to compress the product-dispensing channel, it cannot solve the problem of using almost all of the product. Indeed, some residual product always remains trapped in the vicinity of the substantially rigid shoulder, formed between the head of the tube and its flexible side wall.
Moreover, GB-A-0830695 describes a bottle furnished with a dispensing spout which can be blocked off with the aid of a screw-on cap. The spout comprises two incisions parallel to a central axis of the spout, which are able to separate in response to the thrust of the product to be dispensed. This device does not make it possible to compress the product-dispensing channel, and cannot solve the problem of using almost all of the product.
Furthermore, NL-A-6 402 615 relates to a device making it possible to reduce an accidental internal overpressure of a bottle. For this purpose incisions of small depth, for example in the shape of a &lt;&lt;V&gt;&gt;, are made on the free edge of the bottle neck. An elastic washer is arranged at the bottom of a screw stopper in such a way as to block off the said bottle neck, in the closed position of the bottle. When an overpressure occurs, the overpressure prevailing inside the bottle separates the washer from the zone of the incisions, allowing the overpressure to escape. These incisions are entirely unable to solve the problem addressed by the present invention.